This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Brazing is a common manufacturing process for joining two or more components along a seam or joint. In most cases, the two or more components are made of metal. Together, the two or more components form a workpiece. Brazing is often used in the automotive industry for joining together vehicle body panels, which are typically made of sheet metal. Such brazing operations are often completed autonomously or semi-autonomously by robotic welders as a vehicle moves along an assembly line. The robotic welders used along such assembly lines are typically configurable and can be set up to perform a wide-variety of welding, cutting, or brazing operations. Laser brazing is one such operation. In accordance with this process, a high energy beam of laser light is focused on and melts a bronze filler material. The bronze filler material is provided in the form of a feed wire that is fed out through a wire feed tip attached to a torch body. The torch body is mounted on and articulated by the robotic welder. When the feed wire melts, the bronze filler material enters the seam or joint between the sheet metal panels to form a connection.
Laser brazing presents unique challenges surrounding the management of heat and laser light that is reflected by the feed wire and the workpiece. One problem that exists in this application is that the reflected heat and laser light can heat up the wire feed tip, the closest component of the laser brazing system to the melting bronze filler material of the feed wire and the workpiece. Current robotic welders do not have sufficient cooling to prevent the wire feed tip from becoming overheated in this application, and as a result, the wire feed tip becomes discolored, undergoes premature wear, and can cause wire feed issues resulting in braze defects and equipment downtime.